Pavlov's Bell
by 263Adder
Summary: After being excluded from another family portrait, Five chases after Vanya. My entry for Fiveya Week. Day 6, prompt: first kiss/last kiss. Series: Science for Geniuses, Love for Dummies Part 1.


Dedication: Thanks for listening to me moan about life TooYoungToFeelThisTired - I really appreciate it, and story dedications are the only way I know how to really say thank you ':D I hope you don't hate it!  
N.B.: This is not connected to my Then and Now series so don't mix up the plots.

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His hand twitched uselessly at his side as he watched Number Seven flee the room on the verge of tears but, under such watchful eyes, he had no choice other than to stand motionless beside the others while their portraits were once again taken without her. If he ran off, it would be clear to everyone it was to chase after Vanya, and Dad would doubtlessly punish her for his actions rather than Five. That wasn't something he could risk.

So he stayed in place, eyes burning and smile cold, waiting for yet another exercise in patience to end.

The others shuffled slightly beside him, their faces aching from holding their composed expressions for so long, feet sore from standing while the artist worked, and minds numb with boredom. They could barely refrain from cheering once the artist said his preliminary sketch was done and he wouldn't require the children any further.

As Reginald looked over the man's work, Pogo beckoned the children into the next room and shut the door on the business.

"Remember to be in the training room by _three o'clock_." He urged them.

"Thanks, Pogo." Luther said, echoed by Allison – the only two siblings still happy about having their portraits taken. As if Five had ever needed additional proof of their vanity.

Klaus and Diego were the first to hurry off from the room, Five only pausing to ask Pogo if he had seen Vanya since she ran out.

"I am sorry, Number Five." Pogo responded, his slow tone making Five's foot tap in impatience. "I have not seen her since lunchtime. Is Miss Vanya not in her bedroom?"

He checked their rooms first and was surprised not to find her hiding in her own, as Pogo had suggested. Her violin was missing from the corner however, which meant he could likely follow the music to find where she had holed herself away.

Jumping to each floor of the mansion Five would pause for a minute with his ears straining for the slightest sound of Vanya, yet nothing reached him. With a glance outside the nearest window he wondered if she had perhaps gone outside, but he convinced himself otherwise. For a start, Vanya hardly ever left the mansion she certainly wouldn't do it alone. The idea of her running off also scared him too much to dwell on it as a real possibility.

No, she had to be somewhere inside the Academy. He simply wasn't looking hard enough.

Five teleported to the kitchen where he was greeted by his humming mother. He had considered that he might find Vanya at the kitchen table; she sometimes liked to do her homework there while the others were busy.

"Hello, Five. Are you hungry?" Grace asked placidly, her back to him as she gently stirred the contents of a pan over the cooker top.

"No, Mom. I'm looking for Vanya – have you seen her?"

"Not recently, dear. Have you tried her bedroom?"

"Yes." Five sighed, jumping away before Grace could process her next set of programmed words.

The library was empty, although Ben strolled in just as Five was ready to leave it again.

"Hey, Five. Are you busy?"

"Yes." He replied, about to teleport again when Ben leapt forward to stop him with an arm.

"Wait a minute."

Five looked down at Ben's hand and pulled away from him. "_What_?"

"Are you looking for Vanya?" Ben asked, not surprised by his brother's clear hostility.

"What else would I be doing?" Five scoffed.

"You know, I still don't get why she can't be in the picture? It's not like anyone outside the house will ever see it, anyway." Ben said, dropping heavily onto one of the couches. He'd brought a book with him to read and started flipping it open to the right page. "It's not like it will be hung up in a museum or anything."

"I dread to think what Dad's long-term plans were for that picture." Five groaned, picturing all too clearly Reginald trying to offer it to the mayor or to a history museum to commemorate one of their many missions. "Have you seen Vanya anywhere?"

"Sorry." Ben grimaced. "Is she not in her room?"

"No." Five snapped. Why did everyone keep suggesting that to him, instead of offering something useful?

"_Okay_." Ben replied defensively, narrowing his eyes as his brother began to pace. "It was just an idea. How about the attic?"

"I already checked it." He huffed, running a hand through his hair with an urge to tug a handful out in frustration.

"I'm sure she's okay, Five. She's here somewhere." Ben assured. "She was upset is all, maybe she needed some time alone. Could she be in one of the toilets?"

Five shook his head. "She took her violin with her. Why would she take her violin to the toilet?"

"Oh. Well then, how about the roof?"

"It's too cold."

"Did you check anyway?" Ben prompted.

Five jumped instead of answering him.

"For fuck's _sake_, Vanya!" He yelled as soon as he clapped eyes on her. She was sat with her back leaning against one of the low walls, violin clutched to her chest, wearing no outdoor clothing despite it being close to freezing out.

Shucking off his jacket, Five hurried over to her and urged her to lean forward so he could add it to her shoulders. "Why the hell would you come up here? Are you trying to freeze to death?"

She shrugged at him, keeping her head downcast, her eyes veiled behind her hair.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, you know." Five said, dropping beside her. His body immediately protested as he made contact with the damp ground, but he appeased it by pressing into Vanya's side and throwing an arm around her.

"Sorry."

"No – I..." Five tutted into her hair. "I wasn't looking for an _apology_. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. And that you're not taking Dad being a first class dipshit personally."

"I'm fine. _Really_, Five." Vanya assured, the wind whipping up her loose hair.

He wasn't fooled. After everything, Number Seven was still a shitty liar.

Gently taking her chin in his hand, still considering her delicate even though he knew better, he tilted her face up and surveyed her red-rimmed eyes with dismay.

Murmuring to himself in disapproval, Five thumbed away the remaining tears from her cheeks. He kept his hand there even when he was done; her skin felt too cold – he really needed to get her back inside.

"I don't know why I expected it to be different." Vanya exhaled heavily, condensation clouding her face for a moment as she leaned into his palm.

"We've only been here for a few weeks, we've just got to give it time." Five said, echoing her sigh.

"_He_ will _never_ change. It was stupid of me to think anything else."

"Dad might never change, but the rest of us are. It will be better this time, Vanya. You're gradually coming off your pills, and we'll start training you once your powers manifest again. We'll change everything and make it the way it always should have been."

"Including you being here this time?" Vanya said, wanting her voice to sound firm yet she couldn't help the sliver of doubt that crept in.

"_Yes_. But if I'm staying you'll have to be prepared to fight." Five warned, internally flinching at the notion of Vanya in the midst of gunfire. "The Commission won't let their plans go easily; once they figure out where we are, or rather when, they'll be coming for us. They won't be easy to stop, even with you on our side."

Vanya snorted. "Given how badly I fucked up last time, I wouldn't count on me being an asset to you."

"Last time..."

"And the time before that." Vanya reminded sardonically, leaning out of his touch. Five didn't like that and weaved his fingers gently into her hair to maintain contact.

"_And the time before that_," Five conceded, "you were tricked out of taking your pills, had no preparation for the powers that were about to emerge, were being manipulated by a psychotic douche bag and only had Number One through Four for support. No wonder the planet ended. _This time_, you know what will happen. And you've got me and Ben with you every step of the way. _And_ if I see that lunatic you were dating I'll kill him myself."

Vanya scrunched up her eyes, a hand quickly following to drag over her face to hide her shame. "Leonard. _Harold_. It might not be too late for him, you know. That is if he hasn't killed his father yet. He just needs help is all."

Five didn't mean to laugh so loudly at her, not when she was clearly feeling so exposed, but he couldn't help it.

"You're amazing." He finally managed.

She looked at him incredulously. "I got tricked by – how did you describe him again – a _psychotic douche bag_? Not exactly my finest moment."

"And you're already thinking about how to save him." He pointed out, unable to take his eyes off her. "I would give him the most painful death I could imagine if you asked me to, you know."

"Leonard isn't the only person responsible for the apocalypse, Five. He was a catalyst, that's all. If I'd ever stopped taking my pills, it would have happened again, with or without him."

"You don't know that." Five quickly refuted. "But that's not what I meant. I would kill him – not for the world. For you.

"I would do anything for you, Vanya."

Her skin was warm now, he could feel the heat radiating from her.

"I don't need you to kill him for me, Five." Vanya said, her eyes having trouble meeting his.

"No, you apparently want me to save him." Five replied, still amazed.

"I killed him myself before." She corrected. "I don't need you to do it for me."

His grin widened. "I know. I still want to though."

"Why?"

"Because he hurt you, and I don't like that. I also don't like him because he was your boyfriend."

Vanya stared at him blankly, and Five groaned as he realised he would have to spell this out for her.

"What?" She asked, taken aback as frustration swiftly replaced his soft expression. The one only reserved for her.

"How are you the smartest person I know?" He grumbled, bumping her forehead with his nose. "I know the others set the bar low for you, but I always considered you an equal growing up. Even if you were a musical genius, rather than a mathematical one. Yet you can apparently not see something right in front of you."

"You mean Leonard?" Vanya murmured sadly. "I know, I should have..."

Five cut her off with a quick peck of the lips, not wanting her to finish that train of thought. He pulled away faster than he would have liked so he could gauge her reaction, hoping she would finally see.

The first thing she noticed, for the first time since Five had sat beside her, was how closely the pair were entwined. Five's arm was still around her shoulders, his other hand curled into her hair, encouraging her to face him. At some point, she wasn't sure when, their legs had crossed over each other. What she realised was how casually Five was touching her, stroking her back as he left her to think quietly to herself; the man who spurned physical contact at every turn. Except when it came to her. With her he sought it out every time they were alone.

"I think I could use some help." She finally managed.

"Okay. What do I need to explain before I can kiss you again?" Five said good-naturedly, feeling for the first time since his original childhood that a weight had been lifted from his chest.

"The kissing part." Vanya said dumbly, well aware that her cheeks were flaming red and cursing them for it.

Five kissed her forehead, bringing their bodies even closer as he began to talk about one of the few things he hated to talk about: his or anyone else's feelings. He was grateful, for once, for Seven's bangs – they shielded him from her expression and the potential of an unhappy ending, at least until she found her words again.

He kept his eyes on her hair as he spoke, pleaded really, for her to finally _realise_ and not make him say it aloud. "You _must_ have known. You were always the most intuitive of us all when we were kids. You knew how much I cared about you."

Her voice shook with disbelief. "No, I..._no_. I just thought you were my best friend."

"I was." Five agreed, because he _was_. No one else got to call themselves Vanya's best friend, "But that wasn't all I wanted. Was that all you wanted?"

Vanya shook her head slightly, trying to make sense of her thoughts (unaware of the thrill she had given Five), but the movement only served to nuzzle her further into Five's chest which did nothing to help her think. "That was decades ago."

"I know. I thought I was past it. I wrote it off as childish. And I haven't been a child in a long time; despite appearances." Five sighed, kissing the crown of her head. "Appearances didn't help. When I came back..."

That week had been a mess. Forty-one years he had spent in the apocalypse, planning how to save the world and yet, when he finally got his chance, he seemed to fuck up at every turn. Although in fairness, never in his calculations had he counted on coming back as a prepubescent.

"When you found out it was me, you tried to kill me." Vanya accused, not shifting from her position against him.

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off again.

"I asked you not to leave – _twice_ – and you did it, anyway. And when I came to you, you turned me away." She leaned back, giving Five no choice but to look into her sad eyes. "I heard you with Klaus. I know you hoped I wouldn't...but those don't seem like the actions of someone who – _what_? Has a _crush_ on me? We haven't known each other in a long time, Five. I think you're confusing your old feelings for Seven with me. I'm not the same person anymore, I just look that way."

"Yes you are." Five blurted, grimacing at Vanya's unimpressed expression. "We've grown. We've changed, I know that, I'm not an _idiot_. I'm not the same person who left you either. But at heart you are. You wouldn't have suggested saving that lunatic if you weren't. You care about other people – you always have, no matter how fucking awfully they treat you – and that's what," he caught himself, "that's what makes you _you_. And that's the person I've always wanted to come back home to."

"I think you should be careful calling other people lunatics, Five. They might accuse you of being a hypocrite." She sniffed, leaning back into his warmth.

He grinned at her as he rested his chin on her head, pulling her closer again. Her hair was damp against him and he thought again how stupid it was of Vanya to come to the roof on such a cold day.

"Aren't you cold?"

"No, not right now."

Five kissed her nose, hoping to and succeeding in drawing out a small smile. "You _feel_ cold."

"You're warmer than me." She excused.

"Can I kiss you again?"

Vanya shook her head. "I still don't understand."

"What's there left to explain? You know how I feel about you?" Five urged.

"Do I?" Vanya breathed. "And I suppose you know how I feel about you too?"

"I was hoping I'd find that out. I'm waiting to see if you'll kiss me back or not." Five said, running the tip of his nose down Vanya's so he could near her lips again. He thrilled once more as she shivered under his touch.

"Don't show me, Five." She insisted. "_Tell me_. Why do you want to kiss me?"

He pulled back half an inch. "I know this is a bad idea Vanya. I've thought about it, and it's nothing if not a _terrible_ idea."

What the Commission would do; how much more difficult it would be to run if it were two of them rather than one.

"But I'm fifty-four years old. I'm tired. I want to come home and _you're_ my home."

The brown of Vanya's eyes seemed to melt as she glanced up at him. Hesitantly, as if she were approaching a slightly feral animal – which Five supposed was a rather appropriate analogy – she leaned in to press a kiss of her own to the corner of his mouth. Despite the constant cold tinge to her skin, her touch made him warm from head to toe.

"I'm glad to have you back, Five. Despite everything you brought with you. I just wish – I wish you hadn't sent me away. I wish you'd been there when everything went so wrong. I could have used your help. Allison," she explained, "it was hard to trust her after everything. Even a complete stranger seemed more trustworthy than our family. You? I would have listened to you if you'd told me he was a creep. I know I didn't listen to you when you tried to talk to me that first night, so I can't really judge, but I wish you'd given me a second chance. I wanted to help you. It hurt when you wouldn't let me."

"I was convinced we'd have more time." Five told her. "It was just eight days – I was confident I would stop everything, we'd all live and then...well _then_ I would have focused on getting my body back. I wasn't going to return to your apartment looking like this."

He gestured down at his body with distaste.

Puberty. What a crappy hand.

"But I planned to come back. After." Five insisted, fixing his eyes back on her, entreating her to believe him. "And that's all I let myself think because I _had_ to save the world, Vanya. It's all I'd had for decades, to plan, to obsess over. And when I found out you ended it. I couldn't let everything I'd done be for nothing. I've done so many terrible things, Vanya. Things I never want to tell you. But I could always justify it by saying I was doing them to save the world. I'd be a monster without that."

"You're not a monster, Five."

"Neither are you, Vanya."

She sniffled yet her eyes stayed dry. "Just tell me, Five. Say it to me. I'd like to hear it."

"It's hard for me, Vanya."

"I can say it first if you want?" She offered, brushing her bangs aside so she could look at him fully.

"If the Commission, or Dad for that matter, ever find this out it'll put you in even more danger. I never wanted that for you, that's why I never...I'm a target, Vanya. I always have been."

"Well the Commission aren't going to kill me if they think they need me to end the world. And Dad – Dad doesn't scare me as much as he used to." Vanya frowned. "Do you think that's the pills?"

"Maybe." Five agreed. "But what I'm saying..."

"I know what you're saying, Five."

"And?"

Her face cleared, and she smiled at him. "I wasn't the one who kissed you. It seems to me that you've already made your decision. Come home to me. And tell me why you're glad to be back."

"I'll say the words when we're clear. But for now," Five said, unwinding his fingers from her hair so he could stroke her cheek instead, "this will have to do."

Eyes widening, Vanya watched Five bring their faces even closer, moaning when he stopped a hair's width from her lips.

"Can I kiss you again?"

Nodding, Vanya squared her shoulders and sat up straighter so their mouths fully aligned. Her exhale warmed his face. "Yes, Five."

He watched her eyes flutter shut as he brought them, finally, together.

Five's patience melted away within seconds, and he instantly sought to deepen their sweet kiss, running his tongue along the seam of her lips to ask her for yet more than he probably deserved. She allowed it anyway; she always was too good to him.

Vanya was the one who had to end it. Five would have been happy to keep going until one of them blacked out from oxygen deprivation.

She was the sensible one for a reason.

"What do you think the others will say?" Vanya asked shyly, bringing up a hand to place over Five's; keeping it in place on her cheek. It was an unnecessary action, Five could stay sitting on that cold roof curled together for the rest of his days.

"Who gives a fuck?" He scoffed. "Tell me if any of them give you grief though, and I'll stab them in the eye."

"No you won't." She said, laughing breathlessly.

"I would if you asked me to."

"I won't." Vanya insisted, grinning at him. He had no choice but to return the gesture, the pair smiling contentedly at each for a moment before his patience expired yet again and Five bent down to press his lips insistently to hers once more.

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So this is my first official Fiveya piece and I have not written a romance fanfic since 2018, so to say I'm rusty is perhaps an understatement! Hopefully this wasn't too terrible, but let me know what you think on here or tumblr. Thanks for taking the time to read and happy Fiveya week everyone, I'm sad it's nearly over, there have been so many great stories published.

N.B. I have created a series for my Fiveya one-shots (I'm very proud of the series title XD) however this will be updated far more sporadically than my Then and Now series which is my main focus at the moment.


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